Pramāṇa · Search · About · API

Local Government in Ancient India c14: Chapter VIII. Some Important Corporations

Local Government in Ancient India c14

Language
English

Chapter VIII. Some Important Corporations

c14.2

As has been already stated, villages and assemblies other than those constituted by the Brāhmaṇas alone also existed. We shall deal with those of merchants first. No. 349 of 1912 (*Report for 1912–13*, p. 99) from Vīralūr in the North Arcot district, assigned to the time of Rājarāja I, refers to a gift by a guild of *nānādeśī* (merchants, literally, those who come from or have dealings with various countries). But an inscription from Basinikoṇḍa in the Chittoor district refers to certain merchant-guilds, which apparently had flourished from very early times with an organization that established their influence over allied communities in distant parts of India (no. 342 of 1912, *Report for 1912–13*).

c14.3

The record relates that the community, consisting of Nāḍu, Nagara, and Nānādeśī, met in a special congregation at Śīrāvalli, comprising 1,500 representatives of all Samayas (religious denominations) coming from the four and eight quarters as well as of their followers of various sects and tenets. The object of the conference was to declare Śirāvalli a Nānādeśīya-Daśamaḍi-Erivīrapaṭṭana, and to confer certain privileges on the town. Such privileges were perhaps similar to those mentioned in another inscription assigned to the time of Rājendra-Cola I (*no.* 256 of 1912, *Report for* 1912–13), which gives some interesting details regarding the same merchant guild. It states that the guild were praised by 500 *vīra-śāsanas* (i. e. edicts ?) for their deeds, were protectors of the Valañjiya religion and devotees of Bhaṭṭārikā (i. e. Durgā ?), and comprised various sub-divisions coming from the 1,000 districts of the four quarters, the 18 towns, the 32 *velarpuram*, and the 64 *ghaṭikā-sthāna*. These Nānādeśīs met together at Mayilārpura (i. e. Mylapore) and decided to convert Kāṭṭūr, which was originally Ayyapulal into a Vīrapaṭṭaṇa, and thus to exempt its inhabitants from all communal contributions, entitling them to receive twice what they used to get previously (perhaps in the matter of honorary privileges). They resolved also that henceforward the town was not to be inhabited by such members of the mercantile classes as (1) demanded taxes or tolls by threatening people with drawn swords or by capturing them, and (2) wantonly deprived people of their food or otherwise afflicted them. They also declared that those who offended against this decision were placed outside the Valañjiya community (i. e. were excommunicated).

c14.4

A record from Baligāmi in the Mysore State supplies also a very long eulogy of these merchants and states, in addition to what has been stated in the Kāṭṭūr epigraph, that they were heroes (*vīras*), born to wander over many countries ever since the beginning of the Kṛta age, penetrating regions of the six continents by land and water routes and dealing in various articles such as horses, elephants, precious stones, perfumes, and drugs either wholesale or retail (*Ep. Carn.*, vol. VII, Sk. 118; and *Madras Epigraphy*, 1912–13, p. 100). This boast of the mercantile community is justified by the existence of stone records even in Ceylon and Burma which refer to their communal gifts in those countries. The Vaiṣṇava temple at Pagan in Upper Burma was built by the merchants (*nānādeśī*) of that town (*Ep. Ind.*, vol. VII, p. 197).

c14.5

Similarly, no. 88 of 1914 (*Report for 1914–15*, p. 104) in the tenth year of Jaṭāvarman Vīra Pāṇḍya refers to an assembly of merchants, similar of importance to the Hansa League, from 18 sub-divisions of 79 districts meeting together in a conference in which they decide to set apart the income derived from merchandise for repairs to a temple, e. g. ¼ *paṇam* on each bundle of female cloths, each *podi* of pepper, areca-nuts, and on each gold piece, and the like.

c14.6

But besides these Hansa Leagues of merchants, there were also other assemblies of certain special communities which from their numerical strength attained to a great measure of political importance. These were the assemblies of :

c14.7

(1) The *Velaikkāras.* No. 600 of 1912 records a shrine being placed under them, and they agreed to ‘protect the villages belonging to the temple, its servants, property, and devotees, even though, in doing this, we lose ourselves or otherwise suffer. We provide for all the requirements of the temple so long as our community continues to exist, repairing such parts of the temple as get dilapidated in the course of time, and we get this our contract which is attested by us engraved on stone and copper so that it may last as long as the moon and sun endure.’ The community was led by the Valañjiyār and Nagarattār sub-sects of merchants who extended their trade all over the country, and are represented by the present Baṇajiga and Nagartta communities of the Kanarese country who are mostly Liṅgāyat Śaivas and Vaiṣṇavas respectively. The Velaikkāras emigrated into Ceylon and formed a body of mercenaries employed by the Sinhalese kings. They are also mentioned in the Tanjore inscriptions of the Cola kings, of whose army they formed a part (*Mad. Ep. Report*, 1912–13, p. 102).

c14.8

(2) The *Iḍaṅgai* community of 98 sub-sects. No. 489 of 1912 (*Madras Epigraphy*, 1912–13, p. 109) registers a compact drawn up on their behalf by the Śrutimans of Uṭṭattūr (who were probably a sect of cultivators of the Iḍaṅgai community) assembled in the *maṇḍapa* of the temple, called Uttamasolan. The compact was to the following effect: ‘We, the members of the 98 sub-sects, enter into a compact in the fortieth year of King Kulottuṅga Cola III, that we shall hereafter behave like the sons of the same parents, and what good or evil may befall any one of us will be shared by all. If anything derogatory happens to the Iḍaṅgai class we will jointly assert our rights till we establish them. Those who behave differently from the rules shall not be recognized as Śrutimans’ (*Mad. Ep. Report*, 1912–13, p. 109). As regards their distinguishing symbols it is stated: ‘It is also understood that only those who during their congregational meetings to settle communal disputes display the *birudas* of horn, bugle, and parasol shall belong to our class. Those who have to recognize us now and hereafter in public must do so from our distinguishing symbols—the feather of the crane and the loose-hanging hair. The horn and the conch-shell shall also be sounded in front of us and the bugle blown according to the fashion obtaining among the Iḍaṅgai people’ (ibid.). A later record from Āḍutarai in the Trichinopoly district (no. 34 of 1913, App. C, in *Madras Epigraphy*, 1912–13) refers again to the Valaṅgai 98 classes and the Iḍaṅgai 98 classes who enter into an agreement among themselves against the Brāhmaṇas and other landlords who oppressed them. Similarly, nos. 59, 361, and 362 of 1914 (in *Madras Epigraphy*, 1914-15, p. 106) register an agreement entered into by the assembly of Parāntakanāḍu and the Valaṅgai 98 and Iḍaṅgai 98 sub-sects regarding payment of certain dues to the king or temple [A. D. 1429-30].

c14.9

(3) The *Valaṅgai* community of 98 sub-sects as referred to in the inscriptions nos. 34 of 1913, App. C, and 59, 361, 362 of 1914 noticed above.

c14.10

(4) The *Pallis* referred to in no. 35 of 1913 (in *Madras Epigraphy*, 1912-13). They rescued the images of gods and 63 devotees (*nāyanmārs*) which were being carried away to Dvārasamudra (Halebīd), and agreed to provide for the necessary upkeep for their worship, viz. 100 *kalam* of rice and 5,000 *kāśu*. They collected this amount by levying on each family a tax of 1 *kuruṇi* of rice and 50 *kāśu*, which they realized, if necessary, by 'taking away vessels, breaking pots and beating them'. For this voluntary act of self-sacrifice for and service to the temple the Pallis were honoured in the temple by special privileges and presentation of silk cloths. These coercive measures were of course permitted by the king. No. 368 of 1914 (*Madras Epigraphy*, 1914-15) also refers to three classes of Pallis included in an assembly representing various groups of people.

c14.11

(5) The *Ayyapolil* guild of merchants, consisting of 500 members with their organization extending almost throughout Southern India, as indicated in a record in the reign of Vikrama-Cola (no. 97 of 1915 and *Mad. Ep. Rep.*, 1916, p. 121). They are ‘known from a large number of epigraphical records to have run a flourishing trade in the early centuries of the Christian era both by land and sea’.

c14.12

(6) The Vaiśyas of the *Kuberavamśa*, devotees of Śiva and Viṣṇu, with many branches, whose chief object in life was the maintenance of Dharma, and whose members were noted for their charities, such as construction of temples, tanks, wells, and watersheds, planting of groves, patronage of poets, &c. (*Mad. Ep. Rep.*, 1916, p, 151).

c14.13

(7) The Deśi-merchants of the Kubera lineage referred to in nos. 15, 16 of 1916, App. C, ‘whose sole delight was distribution of food to the needy, the orphans, and the suppliant beggars’. To the temple of Deśīśvara they made a communal gift of a fixed fee on all the articles in which they traded, such as musk, saffron, yak-tails, cuscus, cotton, cotton-thread, beads, sealing-wax, areca, rocksalt, wax, resin, hemp, wool, camphor, sandal, silk-thread, tiger-skins, women’s cloths, lead, and tin. The form of this remarkable gift points not only to the efficiency of the machinery for the collection of these taxes on the profits of trade in a variety of articles, but also to commercial progress and economic prosperity, as implied in the very volume of that trade supporting taxation on its profits.

c14.14

Like the merchant-guilds noticed above, there were also some important organizations of craft-guilds. No. 261 of 1909, already noticed, refers to the guild of oil-mongers of Kāñci and its suburbs, and also those of twenty-four Nagaras, who met in a temple of Kāñcimānagar, and decided that the usual tax on oil-mills in the temple premises at Tirukkacchūr should be paid to the temple together with a specified quantity of oil and a voluntary fee of one *kāśu* per oil-mill. This decision they agreed to observe as *jātidharma*, i. e. duty which every member owed to his caste. The taxes which were thus assigned by the assembly of oil-mongers in favour of the Tirukkacchūr temple were not what they had ordinarily to pay to government, but what their spontaneous offerings diverted for application to communal purposes.

c14.15

There were again some remarkable examples of seamen’s guilds. One of these is referred to in the Moṭṭupalli record of the Kākatīya sovereign Gaṇapatideva-Mahārāja (no. 600 of 1909, *Madras Epigraphy*, 1909–10) who grants a charter of immunity (*abhayaśāsana*) to merchants trading in their vessels from the seaport of Moṭṭupalli with islands and coast towns in distant countries. The necessity for the charter was that kings of old used to confiscate by force all the cargo, gold, elephants, horses, precious stones, &c., of vessels *en route* from one country to another, which, driven by contrary winds, happened to be stranded and wrecked in the sands near Moṭṭupalli. ‘Seeing that the protection (of my subjects) is far more important (to me) than my life’, says Gaṇapati, ‘we have remitted out of compassion all (taxes) except *kūpaśulka* on these enterprising (merchants) trading on sea, in order to secure fame and to maintain the principles of a righteous government.’ The inscription gives the details of the *kūpaśulka* which were akin to the modern customhouse duties. They comprised fees on sandal-wood, country (?)-camphor, China-camphor, pearls, rose-water, ivory, civet (*javādu*), camphor-oil (*karpūrataila*), copper, zinc, *riseya* (resin ?), lead, silk-thread, corals, perfumes, pepper, and areca-nuts. This long list of cargo shipped by the merchant-men of the Moṭṭupalli seamen supports the glowing appreciation and description of Marco Polo of the trade at the port of Mutfili (identified with Moṭṭupalli), which he visited during the reign of the Kākatīya queen Rudramādevī, about the end of the thirteenth century A.D.

c14.16

There seems to have been a renewal and amendment of this charter a century later in the reign of Annapota-Reḍḍi (mentioned in no. 601 of 1909)

c14.17

who permitted ‘the merchants of Moṭṭupalli who traded with distant islands and coast-towns to stop at their will in their homes at Moṭṭupalli and to leave them for other places (without any official pressure). He also remitted the tax called *aputtirika-daṇḍam* on foreign merchants (who traded in his dominions). Further, the duties on gold and silver were abolished; a third of the export duty on sandal was remitted, and merchants were allowed the liberty to sell their goods brought from other shores to anybody under any conditions, and to carry in exchange likewise to other countries any goods they chose. It was proclaimed that henceforward no cloths would be detained in the warehouse (?), and tolls on other articles would under no circumstances be different from what they were before.’ The following rates of duty were fixed:

c14.18

(A) Goods coming from the southern side—on 100 (packages) of import 3 (packages), and on 100 cloths of export 2 coins (?).

c14.19

(B) Goods coming from the north—on 100 packages of import 5, and on 100 cloths of export 3 coins (?).

c14.20

(C) Goods exported to foreign islands—3 coins (?) on 100 cloths;

c14.21

(D) 7½ (?) on 100 pearls.¹

c14.22

¹ ‘It is curious to note that this interesting record is written in both the Tamil and Telugu languages. It is not unlikely that the reason is to be sought for in the fact that the majority of the merchants whom this charter concerned were, perhaps, Tamils, whose capabilities as sailors from very early times have been proved beyond doubt by the series of conquests on sea registered in the eulogistic introductions to the records of the great Cola kings, Rājarāja I and Rājendra-Cola I. The Telugu version of the epigraph [No. 602 of 1909] supplies the additional information that the pillar on which this charter to the sea-merchants is engraved was set up under orders of the minister Somayāmātya in the town of Mukulā, which was probably a surname either of Moṭṭupalli itself or of one of its suburbs' (*Mad. Ep. Report*, 1909-10, pp. 107, 118).

c14.23

Among other minor and sundry kinds of assemblies we may notice that of the Bhaṭṭas of Rājāśraya-caturvedi-maṅgalam referred to in no. 479 of 1908 (*Madras Epigraphy*, 1908-9) which records that this learned assembly laid down on the authority of Gautama, Baudhāyana, Kauṭilya, and Yājñavalkya the profession to be followed by the *anuloma* sect called the Rathakāras. This epigraph thus shows that questions of castes and professions were settled at the beginning of the thirteenth century A. D. by learned assemblies on the authority of past teachers. No. 49 of 1887 records an instance of Brāhmans laying down social laws for their own caste. It refers to a meeting, in the presence of the God Gopīnāth, of all classes of Brāhmans who settle the sacred law that they should conclude marriages by *kanyādāna*, gift of the bride, and not after receiving gold. Violation of this rule was made punishable by the society by excommunication and also by the king. Thus marriage was to be regarded as a sacrament, and not a commercial transaction. Secondly, we may instance the composite assembly of various groups of people, including three classes of Pallis, four or six subdivisions of professionals, artisans, and other castes as referred to in no. 368 of 1914 (*Madras Epigraphy*, 1914–15).

Linked texts (6)